The 10 most legendary pedals in history and their reissue

By Miguel Ángel Ariza

Throughout the history of rock music and the electric guitar specifically, there have been certain sounds so incredibly ground breaking that any self respecting guitarist who has been hypnotized by them, knows the spell is not broken until he has managed to have that sound in his own pedalboard. We have tried to gather here ten of those pedals that marked the sonic path of Rock and its current commercially available version.

Fuzz Face / Dunlop Fuzz Face

We begin with one of the most legendary pedals of all time, one of those which is considered the Holy Grail for several reasons: for being the first to be used, for being incredibly complicated to get an original and, especially with the astronomical prices they can fetch if you find one in good condition. The Fuzz pedal, whose sound marks the end of the 60s, can be heard with almost any artist that used the fuzz of that era. It was the great standard, as you will see with many of those on this list, Mr. Jimi Hendrix, master of the six string at the end of the decade loved it, and the massive use of effects was something uncommon in those days. The Dunlop company now has a version on the market using germanium transistors just like the first units of the 60s pedal

RAT / RAT ProCo 2

An old acquaintance already in our articles, the RAT, which we curiously put on this list after the Fuzz Face since it seems that in the late 70s the ProCo company engineers were fed up with fixing the old Fuzz Face so they decided create their own pedal based on that, but taking further. Thus the RAT was born, a wonderful guitar pedal that has been used by artists as diverse as Kurt Cobain or John Scofield.The new version of the Rat, the ProCo RAT 2 is still faithful to original sound.

Ibanez Tube Screamer / Ibanez TS9

Probably the most famous overdrive pedal of all time ... and for good reason. The collection of historical guitar pedals by guilds that go beyond guitarists, make it virtually impossible to obtain an original in good condition without taking out a mortgage, but Ibanez continues to offer its new version of the TS9 at a price for everyone. We said at the time that the chip is a more pronounced change from the original, which has a creamier tone.

Univibe / Fulltone Deja-Vibe

Originally created for keyboards to simulate Leslie speakers, this pedal said hello to Earth the day Hendrix decided to get himself a Fender Stratocaster. The rest is history. The originals of the 60s are hard to find and pay for, as we have said about almost everything on this list, but thanks to Fulltone we can get quite close to the characteristic sound of this pedal with its Deja-Vibe.

Octavia / Fulltone Octafuzz OF2

Again we come across the path of the Seattle genius. This time with one of the pedals more present in its sound. It is a pedal Roger Mayer practically made for himself and his needs. A kind of octaver with added fuzz; a Hendrix wet dream. The originals exceed 1000€ in value today so we suggest you try one of the new Fulltone Octafuzz OF2 which will give you a very rough sound like those of the 60s.

Muff / Electro Harmonix Big Muff

The first bestseller of the Electro Harmonix company due to this fuzz pedal and perhaps it was to get the note to not respond as suddenly as it did in other fuzz pedals of the time. The Big Muff managed to add a huge sustain to those distorted notes and it became an instant classic. Of course the company is still making them today and is one of the most used the fuzz world .

MXR Phase 90 / MXR Phase 90

Probably one of the most used phasers in history that you can still get at an affordable price thanks to the brand MXR. The story of this pedal is linked to the figure of another six string legend, Eddie Van Halen, who after using this pedal on the solo in Eruption taught the future 'shredders' that to get this sound, they should get one of these for their pedalboard. By the way, it is also a great phaser for any other type of song.

Boss DD-2 / Boss DD-7

In 1983 Boss launched the first compact digital delay pedal to market, the DD2, and all the great guitarists of the time (Clapton, Gilmour...) used one. Since then the brand has not stopped revising that original to this day with its DD7 equipped with more possibilities than its ancestor but many still prefer their "dark" sound more.

Vox V846 / V846 Vox HW / Crybaby / Crybaby Dunlop

Once again we come across "the whiz" Hendrix. In this case, the quintessential pedal closer to his sound and the pedal all market brands have tried to emulate when making their wah. We know that he used two pedals with similar features, the Cry Baby and the V846Vox and, having had the opportunity to test various models of that time we can assure you that we would not know which to keep, mostly because these pedals have their own life and each have a different sound. In fact, both brands have revised their models for sale. Vox has a version of its legendary wah with handmade wiring and Dunlop has spent years putting to service dozens of versions of their Cry Baby.

Klon Centaur 1994-2000 / Klon ktr Centaur overdrive

Player #10 on the roster, and discriminated against for its age. It's the last of the members of the club of most wanted pedals in history, and whose historic unites have been made between 1994 and 2000. Getting one of these today is as hard to find as the most vintage pedals from the 60s. An overdrive of your dreams which we've seen being used by Jeff Beck and Warren Haynes, two guitarists we believe know something about tone so if you feel like trying the toy, you can start with the KTR brand we left in the link here below.